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The Consciousness Revolution

Participating in the consciousness revolution can no longer be ignored as simply a nice, feel-good choice for those who might care enough or find it convenient. It is now imperative for all of us who share this tiny, fragile space station as our only home. Our present and our children’s futures depend on our ability to change the dream of our society. All of us will be impacted catastrophically if we continue in the current reality. But if we listen to the ancient prophesies of indigenous cultures all over the world and join together in the revolution, we can change that reality for the better.

Now we must pay attention to the clarion call that grows louder each day and is voiced by people all over the world: work together for peace and justice. We must transform the current “Death Economy” that is based on militarization and depleting the earth’s resources into a “Life Economy” based on alleviating hunger, reducing pollution, and developing new forms of energy, transportation, and responsible businesses.

We live in the most revolutionary time in human history. It is bigger than the Agricultural Revolution or the Industrial Revolution, the American Revolution or any other revolution. This is a revolution in consciousness, a time for us to wake up to our true potential as human beings. It’s a revolution that will free us from our unconscious stories of lack and limitation and release us from the false values, hopes and expectations that have kept us stuck in dysfunctional patterns – both as individuals and as global societies.

I’m happy to say that this uprising of passionate and committed people is a cross-cultural awakening that will impact all species. In the past year I’ve traveled to Southeast Asia, Europe, the Middle East, Latin America and around the United States. Everywhere I’ve felt the power of this historical global awakening. People are becoming conscious of the fact that the old traditions and the status quo of the corporatocracy are no longer serving their – our – interests or those of life upon our planet.

We the People are coming radically alive, and we are recognizing that the current world economy has failed terribly. The geopolitical structure created by big governments that are under the control of even bigger businesses has turned what seemed like a dream into a nightmare. Though for a time it appeared that this system was accelerating our civilized development, it has now become obvious that despite the amazing advancements in communications, medicine, the arts, and so many other areas, there is also an ominous dark side to the kind of progress we have been pursuing. The world is plagued by threats to peace and human survival; these stem to a large degree from the abuses of corporate monopolies. Not only have the monopolies destroyed huge swathes of the earth and polluted its air and water, they have also fostered the growth of devastatingly poor and starving communities.

This dark side has reached a critical mass. The implications for the future of our species ought to unite us across racial, cultural, social, and religious lines – all the ways in which we divide ourselves from others who, we have been told, are different from us. Unless we come together to challenge the very people who abuse their power and promote destructive systems, there will be no sustainable future for any of us. It is time for the less than 1%, the big businesses and the governments they control, to stop serving themselves and start serving the more than 99%.

Indigenous shamans from cultures around the world offer us a blue print for moving forward. They’ve seen this coming for millennia. Each culture has a storied history of prophecies of the death of one age and the birth of another.

Since 1968 I’ve lived, studied and worked with indigenous cultures on every continent (except Antarctica where there aren’t any.) All of them have a prophecy which says that we’ve entered a time with the potential for major transformation.

The Maya of Central America, Quechua of the Andes, Buddhists of the Himalayas, Bedouins of the deserts, and many others foretell a shifting of our world and our reality into a sustainable, just, spiritually fulfilling, and thriving future. These prophecies tell us that we’re moving out of the period of deprivation, of lack and limitation and dysfunctional patterns, into a time for understanding that there’s great abundance in the world if we will only pursue it together.

For example, we know that oil and fossil fuels are very limited and that burning these fuels is destroying the atmosphere. On the side of abundance, though, we’ve got plenty of sunshine and wind and other forms of pure, natural energy that we’re learning to use. These prophecies tell us that we can find more and more ways to tap into the abundance that is right in front of us instead of perpetuating the cycle of destruction. Modern science is catching up with this message.

In 1990, when I first started writing books and teaching workshops on shamanism, my work received attention from a very limited category of people. For lack of a better term, they were mostly what we might call former hippies and New Agers; there were few businessmen, doctors or lawyers interested in this message. But now that has changed. I meet people from all walks of life, all socio-economic groups, and all kinds of backgrounds who embrace these ideas and are passionate about changing their world.

Indigenous people from many cultures tell us that “the world is as we dream it” and that the dream is realized by the actions we take. The dream of our parents and those before them – along with the decisions they and we have made – has now brought us to the brink of self-destruction. However, across the planet we are shaking ourselves awake; now it is time to dream a new dream. And to act and change accordingly. The revolution is underway.

Let’s all join it.

John Perkins is an American author. His best known book is Confessions of an Economic Hit Man, in which Perkins claims to have played a role in the process of economic colonization of Third World.